

















Food Combinations 



AND 



Methods of Cooking 



By George E. Cornforth 

Chef, New England Sanitarium, Instructor in 
Hygienic Cookery 



Reprint of Mr. Cornforth's articles in the December, 

1915, and January, February, and March, 

19 1 6, issues of Life and Health 



Life and Health 



Washington, D. C. 















Food Combinations 



AND 



Methods of Cooking 



By George E. (^^ornforth 

Chef, New England Sanitarium, Instructor in 
Hygienic Cookery 



Reprint of Mr. Comforth's articles in the December, 

191 5, and January, February, and March, 

1 9 16, issues of Life and Health 



Life and Health - Washington, D. C. 



,. -K 



5^ 

V 



Copyrighted 191 6 by 
Review and Herald Publishing Assn. 



APR -4 !9I6 




^P^ -4 1916 



'CI.A430040 



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II 
i I 



How to Choose Balanced Meals 



i I 
1 1 



By GEORGE E. CORNFORTH I 

Chef at the New England Sanitarium, Melrose, Mass. ■ 

From "Life and Health," the National Health Magazine, Washington, D. C, Dec, '15. i 

5 

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iiiuHiriuiiiHiiiiiiiniiiuKmiiaiimitmiiuiiiitiitiiiiaittiiriiiiMni 




foods 



f Starch- 



Warmth-and-Work Foods 
Carbonaceous 



Sugar 



Fat 



jY '* balanced meals " we mean meals that supply in about the right propor- 
tion all the kinds of substances required to nourish the body. To be able 
to choose balanced meals one must know something about the kinds of 
substances the body needs, the proportion in which it needs them, and the 
that supply them. 

There are six so-called 
"food elements:"^ 
starch, sugar, fat, protein, 
cellulose, and mineral ele- 
ments. Most foods con- 
sist of mixtures of these 
food elements, in many 
foods some element pre- 
dominating, hence to in- 
crease any one of these 
food elements in the diet 
one would use more 
largely those foods in 
which the desired food 
element predominates, or 
to decrease any one of the 
food elements in the diet 
one would avoid those 
foods in which that ele- 
ment predominates. 

First I am going to group 
the food elements in two 
classes. One class will in- 
clude the substances the 
body u,ses for fuel and 
building material — the 
starch, sugar, fat, and 
protein. The other class 
will include those sub- 
stances without which the 
body would not have the 
power to use the mate- 
rials included in the first 

group, — the substances that keep the body in health, and enable it to keep up its vital 
activities; namely, the mineral elements and cellulose. 

Next we shall take the first of these two classes and divide it into groups and 
classes. The starch, sugar, and fat we shall group together as warmth-and-v/ork 



Building Foods 
Protein 
Nitrogenous 



Cellulose 
Indigestible Food Element 



Mineral Eleme*rfs 



Cereals 

Breads 

Legumes 

Some Vegetables 

Granulated Sugar 

Maple Sugar 

Confectionery 

Cakes 

Pies 

Desserts 

Fruits 

Honey 

Cream 

Milk 

Butter 

Olives 

Olive Oil 

Salad Oil 

Nuts 



Eggs 

Milk 

Legumes 

Cereals 

Nuts 

(Flesh Food) 

C Bran of Cereals 

< Framework of Vegetables 

' Framework of Fruits 

Bran and Germ of Cereals 

Fruits 

Vegetables 

Milk 

Eggs 

Legumes 

Nuts 



HOW TO CHOOSE BALANCED MEALS 



foods ; for the body uses these as a source 
of heat to keep the body warm, and to 
support its activities, just as an engine 
must burn coal to develop power, and in 
the burning of the coal heat is evolved. 
These foods are fuel foods, and like the 
substances we use for fuel, — coal, wood, 
and oils, — these foods consist largely of 
carbon, and are therefore called carbo- 
naceous foods. 

The foods in which starch predomi- 
nates are, cereals, some vegetables, and 
legumes. The foods in which sugar pre- 
dominates are, granulated sugar, maple 
sugar, confectionery, cakes, pies, desserts, 
fruits, and honey. The foods in which 
fat predominates are, cream, milk, but- 
ter, olives, olive oil, salad oil, and nuts. 

The protein food element we shall call 
building food, because it is this kind of 
food that the body must have with which 
to build itself and keep itself in repair. 
There is one element that is necessary in 
building the vital parts of the body; all 
living tissue contains it. That element 
is nitrogen. Therefore protein, contain- 
ing nitrogen, is called nitrogenous food. 
The foods in which protein predominates 
are, lean meat, eggs, milk, legumes, and 
some nuts; the cereals contain a consid- 
erable proportion of it. 

Now we wish to know something about 
the proportion in which we should use 
these different foods. 

Since it has been demonstrated that 
muscular activity uses up the carbona- 
ceous or fuel foods rather than the pro- 
tein foods,^ it is evident that the larger 
proportion of our food should consist of 
carbonaceous food, only enough of the 
protein food being required, after the 
body has reached its growth, to repair 
the waste of the body tissues, which is 
small. About one eighth of the food we 
eat should consist of protein or building 
food; another eighth may consist of fat; 
and the rest, or three quarters, should 
consist of starch and sugar, mostly starch. 

Therefore, since we should choose 
warmth-and-work foods so largely, one 
or two eggs, a glass of milk, a helping 
of beans, or a few nuts will furnish all 
the building food that is needed at a 



meal. The rest of the meal may consist 
of warmth-and-work foods and foods 
that supply bulk. When a pound cake of 
butter is cut into thirty-two equal pieces, 
each piece weighs one-half ounce, and is 
about the size of the average serving of 
butter. If one of these pieces of butter 
is eaten at each of the three meals, this, 
with the fat that is taken in milk or 
cream and in the seasoning added to the 
various foods, or in salad or dessert, will 
supply all the fat that is needed. 

It will be noticed that I am speaking 
about the needs of the body. A little 
more liberal supply of protein and of 
fat would probably do no harm. It has 
not been determined how large a propor- 
tion of protein is detrimental nor how 
small a proportion is dangerous to the 
health. But we are suggesting the 
amounts that we believe will support the 
body in the best of health and vigor. 
And the amount of fat may vary two or 
three ounces a day without apparent ill 
effects. I am also speaking of the nor- 
mal, healthy person. In cases of sickness 
the doctor may prescribe very different 
proportions of the food elements. 

If one wishes to omit butter from the 
diet, a level tablespoon of olive oil will 
take the place of butter, or a few ripe 
olives may be eaten, or a few nuts. The 
tendency in using olive oil or nuts is to 
use too large quantities of them. Olive 
oil, being liquid, is so easily poured on 
foods, and so easily eaten by those who 
like it, that some may take an excess 
without being aware of it till unpleasant 
symptoms are produced. And in eating 
nuts it is not always easy to be satisfied, 
especially if we like them, with a mod- 
erate quantity, as we have learned to be 
satisfied with a very little butter. Butter 
has been considered so indispensable a 
part of the diet that we are likely to for- 
get that it is one of the most expensive. 
But it is true that olive oil is cheaper 
than the best butter, and yet we have 
looked upon olive oil as being too expen- 
sive for common use, and have thought 
that we could use it only in small quan- 
tities, as when prescribed by the doctor. 
J353BUI B iCjaSjBj SI siqi Jjuiqi sauipaoios j 



HOW TO CHOOSE BALANCED MEALS 



of bringing up, for I am acquainted with 
those who have lived where olive oil is 
produced in large quantities, and they 
prefer olive oil to butter, and always use 
it when they can get it. To them olive 
oil seems the natural and butter the un- 
natural fat to use, as to most of us but- 
ter seems the natural and olive oil the 
unnatural fat to use. 

But we must now consider the second 
of the two classes into which we grouped 
the food elements ; namely, the cellulose 
and mineral elements. Apparently these 
very important parts of our food have 
been considered fit only to be fed to cat- 
tle, pigs, horses, and chickens, so we have 
refined them out of our food, and fed 
them to farm animals, thereby developing 
magnificent specimens of stock, while our 
own health has suffered decidedly from 
the lack of these elements. In a lecture 
given in Boston some time ago on the 
subject of the increased efficiency pos- 
sible on a vegetarian diet, Mr. Ralph 
Waldo Trine said, in speaking of the im- 
portance of the cellulose in the diet, that 
the interior of our anatomy needs a daily 
scrub, as well as its exterior. A French 
physician has called spinach the broom of 
the stomach. We may call the cellulose 
in food the broom of the alimentary 
canal which sweeps it out and keeps it 
clean. Cellulose, being indigestible, is 
called the indigestible food element. 
Some may think it strange that we ought 
to eat anything indigestible, because any- 
thing indigestible is associated with in- 
digestion. The word indigestible is ap- 
plied in two ways: (i) To foods which 
tend to cause disturbance or " indiges- 
tion;" (2) to foods which pass through 
the intestinal canal without being acted 
upon by the digestive fluids. In order 
that the diet be not too concentrated, it 
should contain some indigestible matter, 
analogous to the " roughage " fed to 
stock. An insufficiency of indigestible 
matter in the food is a common cause of 
constipation. It has been noticed repeat- 
edly in Europe that the coarse war bread 
has relieved a chronic tendency to con- 
stipation. One writer has called consti- 
pation the universal disease, and it is 



almost universal among people who live 
on the diet of civilized nations. People 
who live on foods as nature supplies 
them, without removing the cellulose, are 
not troubled with constipation. Consti- 
pation, appendicitis, decaying teeth, can- 
cer, and tuberculosis are diseases of civ- 
ilized peoples, not of peoples who do 
not remove the cellulose and mineral ele- 
ments from their food, and who do not 
live on too concentrated food. The foods 
that are lacking in cellulose are, milk, 
eggs, meat, white rice, white flour, and 
sugar, and the foods made from white 
flour and sugar, such as white bread, 
pies, cakes, puddings, and confectionery; 
and when the diet consists largely or al- 
most wholly of such foods, constipation 
must follow. The foods that supply an 
abundance of cellulose are fruits, vege- 
tables, whole cereals, and flours made 
from whole cereals. 

Just at present it seems to be popular 
to try to overcome the lack of bulk in 
the diet by adding bran to many foods. 
In fact, that seems to be a fad just now, 
so that we have bran gems, bran bread, 
bran griddle cakes, bran cookies, and 
even bran cake. And it will not be sur- 
prising if, as is apt to be done with all 
fads, people overdo the matter, and harm 
themselves by using too much bran. If 
those foods were used that contain an 
abundance of cellulose, and those avoided 
from which the cellulose has been re- 
moved in the process of preparing them 
to be eaten, it would not be necessary 
to add bran to foods. But if people will 
eat largely of refined foods and food 
lacking in cellulose, the use of some bran 
may be a help. For those who would 
like to try them, recipes for bran gems 
and bran bread are given. 

We have not yet come to our real sub- 
ject, how to choose balanced meals. We 
have only been leading up to it. In the 
next article we shall have some interest- 
ing things to say about the mineral ele- 
ments in food, and their importance, and 
shall try to show plainly how to choose 
well-balanced meals, illustrating what we 
say by sample well-balanced and ill-bal- 
anced meals. 



HOW TO CHOOSE BALANCED MEALS 



Bran Gems 

(One dozen) 

2 tablespoons cooking oil 

2 tablespoons molasses 

i cup milk 

I egg 

I cup wheat bran 

I cup white flour 

i level teaspoon salt 

Separate the white from the yolk of the egg. 
Beat together all the ingredients except the 
white of the egg. Beat the white stiff and 
fold it in last. Bake in hot gem irons. 

Bran Bread 

(Two small loaves) 

I pint lukewarm water or milk 
I cake compressed yeast 
I quart sifted pastry flour 
h cup vegetable cooking oil 

1 cup brown sugar 

2 level teaspoons salt 
3i to 4 cups bran 

I cup seeded raisins 

Dissolve the yeast cake in the warm water 
or milk. Stir in the pastry flour, and beat till 
the batter is smooth. Cover this and set it in 
a warm place to rise, allowing it to rise very 
light. After it has risen, beat together the oil 
and sugar, and add them and the salt and bran 
to the light sponge, and beat together well : 
then stir in the raisins, which have been 
washed and drained. This should not be so 
stiff as dough, but should be more like a 



batter. Put into two oiled bread tins. It 
should not be deep in the pans. The bread is 
better if the loaves are not thick. Let rise 
about one-half inch. Bake in a slow oven 
about one hour. 

Milk, of course, makes the bread better 
than water, and a lard-like vegetable 
shortening makes the bread better than 
oil. 

' The word element is thus used in some 
textbooks. Perhaps a better expression is 
" food principle," as the word element is more 
properly used to distinguish the simplest chem- 
ical substances, such as nitrogen, mentioned in 
this article. It is proper to speak of carbon, 
hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen as elements, 
and of protein, fat, carbohydrate, etc., as " food 
principles ; " but we have left the word ele- 
ment as the author has used it in this article. 

" It should be remembered that protein con- 
tains a certain nonnitrogenous portion, which 
on the breaking up of the protein becomes a 
carbohydrate (or sugar), and serves as a fuel 
food. Even the purest protein is not entirely 
used in tissue building. A diabetic who is 
given no carbohydrate, neither starch nor su- 
gar, may still pass sugar which comes from 
the proteins he eats. The carbohydrates are 
known as " protein sparers," for the reason 
that when an insufficiency of carbohydrate is 
eaten, the body uses up the protein for fuel. 
Protein is certainly an expensive fuel from the 
viewpoint of dollars and cents, and it may be 
expensive from the viewpoint of health. 





I 



The Mineral Food Elements and 
Their Importance 

By GEORGE E. CORNFORTH 

Chef at the New England Sanitarium, Melrose, Mass. 

From "Life and Health," the National Health Magazine, Washington, D. C, Jan., 'i6 





N our last article we divided the 
food elements into two groups, 
one group including the sub- 
stances the body uses in build- 
ing itself and keeping itself in repair 
and in producing heat and energy, — 
namely, the starch, sugar, fat, and pro- 
tein, — the other group including those 
substances that keep the body in health 
and give it the power to use the ma- 
terials included in the first group; 
namely, cellulose and mineral elements. 
And in that article we considered all 
these food elements except the mineral 
elements. We shall now take up a study 
of these. 

The mineral elements may be called 
nature's medicines. They are necessary 
not only for the building of bones, skin, 
hair, teeth, and finger nails, but to keep 
the body in health. Without the mineral 
elements the body cannot carry on its 
activities, it cannot keep itself in repair, 
neither can it eliminate the waste prod- 
ucts of its own life activities, nor has it 
the power to fight disease germs. The 
experiment has been tried of feeding ani- 
mals a sufficient quantity of food from 
which the mineral elements have been 
removed, and invariably the animals die 
within about thirty days. One writer 
makes the statement that " a diet con- 
sisting of pure protein, fat, and carbo- 
hydrate would cause starvation even 
more quickly than if all food were with- 
held." 



We see then that 



Cellulose 
Mineral elements 



keep 



the body clean 
the blood pure 



These important elements are taken 
from food in the milling of flour, re- 
moving the bran and germ; in the re- 
fining of sugar, removing from the sugar 
all the cellulose and mineral elements 
that grew with it, and leaving nothing 
but pure sugar; and in throwing away 
the water in which vegetables are cooked, 
which often contains much that is valu- 
able to the body. The body is also de- 
prived of mineral elements by making 
flesh food a large part of the diet, for 
the mineral elements in the animal's body 
largely form the bones and other hard 
parts, while only the flesh is eaten. If 
we eat meat, we ought to eat it as cats 
and dogs do, — bones, hair, feathers, and 
all, — then we should get all the neces- 
sary body-building material. 

A Boston physician who for many 
years has made a special study of the 
mineral elements in the diet, said, while 
talking with me, that if animals are fed 
on grain from which the germ has been 
removed, they will die, and that if the 
diet consists too largely of sugar, the 
sugar will take the lime right out of the 
inside of the teeth. With the exception 
of a few special flours, the germ of the 
wheat is always removed in making not 
only white flour but whole wheat and 
Graham. The germ is the heart of the 
wheat, a very important and nutritious 
part. That weevils know what is good 
for them is shown by the fact that when 
they attack wheat, they eat the germ out 
of it and leave the rest. 

It is recognized that tooth decay, rick- 
ets, scurvy, and beriberi may follow a 
diet lacking in mineral elements, and 



8 



MINERAL FOOD ELEMENTS 



there are physicians who believe that the 
body is allowed to succumb to skin dis- 
eases, cancer, and tuberculosis by a lack 
of certain mineral elements. It seems 
that a condition of general lowered vi- 
tality results from mineral starvation. 

If we were to eat bread made from 
whole cereals, eat an abundance of fresh 
fruit and vegetables, and see that valu- 
able elements are not removed from our 
vegetables in the cooking, and be careful 
not to eat too much confectionery and 
sweetened foods, we should not suffer 
from mineral starvation. Making candy 
and sweetened foods too large a part of 
the diet is an increasingly common di- 
etetic error, which deprives the body of 
needed elements. If we were to get our 
sugar by eating sweet fruits, chewing 
sugar cane, drinking maple sap, and eat- 
ing beets, we should not eat too much 
sugar, nor deprive ourselves of needed 
elements that naturally grow with sugar. 
A young man who has lived where sugar 
cane grows and where sugar and mo- 
lasses are made, tells me that puny babies 
are sometimes allowed to drink all the 
sugar cane juice they want, and that they 
soon become plump and healthy. This 
result is, no doubt, not only on account 
of the sugar taken, which is a fattening 
food, but on account of the needed min- 
eral elements that are supplied by the 
sugar cane juice. 

Now perhaps we ought to give a list 
of the mineral elements needed by the 
body, and tell what foods supply them 
and for what the body needs them. 

Mineral Elements 

Iron — spinach, watercress, egg yolk, legumes, 
strawberries 

Phosphorus — whole cereals, legumes, milk, 
egg yolk 

Potassium — potato, turnip, parsnip, cabbage, 
plums, cherries 

Calcium — milk, egg, whole cereals, nuts, leg- 
umes, celery, cabbage, citrous fruits 

Magnesium — whole cereals, spinach, legumes, 
apples, cherries 

Sodium — salt, spinach, asparagus, cauliflower, 
apples, strawberries 

Chlorine — salt, spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, 
turnip 

Sulphur — egg yolk, spinach, cauliflower, cab- 
bage 

Fluorine — vegetables 

Silica — oats, barley, onion, cabbage 



Iron is necessary to make red blood. 
Red blood is impossible without it. 
Spinach contains more iron than does any 
other food. Milk is deficient in iron ; so 
if milk makes a large part of the diet, 
cace should be taken to include other 
foods that are rich in iron. 

Phosphorus is necessary for the build- 
ing of bones, brain, and nerves. Thought 
would be impossible without phosphorus. 
The evidence of experiments goes to 
show that the disease beriberi results 
from living on foods from which the 
phosphorus has been removed, such as 
white rice and white bread. Phosphorus 
is perhaps best supplied by the bran of 
cereals. 

Calcium is necessary for building 
bones and teeth. The teeth of children 
fed largely on white bread, meat, cake, 
and candy, decay early, and such chil- 
dren are liable to contract bone diseases. 
Calcium is contained in considerable 
quantity in whole cereals, but not in suf- 
ficient amount to supply the needs of the 
system. Milk contains more calcium 
than does any other food. According 
to a statement made by Dr. Robert 
Hutchinson in his " Food and Dietetics," 
milk contains more lime than lime water. 
Nuts also contain an abundance of lime. 
It is said that peanuts contain too much 
lime. Therefore the lack of lime in ce- 
reals may be balanced by milk or nuts, 
just as milk and nuts balance cereals by 
supplying a large proportion of fat and 
protein, in which cereals are deficient. 
If the system lacks lime, the natural way 
to supply it is to drink milk rather than 
lime water, because the lime in lime wa- 
ter is not organized lime. If the person 
fears he will become too fat, skim milk 
may be used; and if even then there is 
fear of taking too much nourishment, 
whey may be drunk, because the whey 
contains lime. 

There are physicians who believe that 
tuberculosis is made possible because of 
a lack of lime in the diet. Professor 
Sherman of Columbia University ex- 
presses the opinion that half the people 
of the United States are suffering from 
lime starvation. This, of course, is the 



MINERAL FOOD ELEMENTS 



result of living so largely on meat and 
on white flour and sugar products. 
Then, if there is a connection between a 
deficiency of lime and tuberculosis, is it 
any wonder that tuberculosis is so com- 
mon? This theory would also explain 
why milk and eggs, being so rich in lime, 
are a good diet for tuberculosis patients ; 
and perhaps tuberculosis might be treated 
with even more success by using foods 
rich in lime that do not contain such an 
excess of protein, to burden the system; 
such as nuts, whole cereals, celery, cab- 
bage, and citrous fruits, and broths made 
from cereals and from lime-containing 
vegetables in such a way as to extract as 
large an amount as possible of the min- 
eral elements in the vegetables. 

Potassium is necessary for the con- 
struction of the cells of the body. Scurvy 
has been attributed to a lack of potas- 
sium, and men who have studied cancer 
and skin diseases for many years, suspect 
that these are made possible by a defi- 
ciency of potassium in the diet. Potatoes 
contain a large amount of potassium. 
Potatoes, then, may possibly act as a pre- 
ventive of cancer. 

Sodium is necessary for the proper 
constitution of the fluids of the body. It 
is supplied by common salt and by many 
vegetables and fruits. 

Sulphur is one of the constituents of 
proteins, and therefore is necessary for 
the construction of the living tissues of 
the body. 

Fluorine and silica are needed for the 
teeth and bones. 



We have said nothing thus far about 
the value of raw foods as compared with 
cooked foods. But it is being discovered 
that raw foods contain substances very 
necessary for health which are destroyed 
by cooking. These substances seem not 
only to have a beneficial eflfect upon the 
general health, but to arouse or increase 
the activity of the digestive juices. For 
this reason some raw food should be 
eaten every day, if not at every meal. It 
is well to eat raw all food that nature 
has made to be eaten raw, such as celery, 
lettuce, cabbage, nuts, and fruits; and 
even raw carrots and turnips, chopped 
fine, make a very appetizing salad, and 
are more easily digested than the cooked 
vegetables. 

A moment's thought will lead one to 
perceive that something valuable must 
be destroyed by cooking. Just think for 
a moment of crisp, fragrant, appetizing, 
delicious celery, then think of stewed 
celery. Cooking destroys all the charac- 
teristic flavors of celery, so that cooked 
celery seems like a different thing. Com- 
pare in the same way fresh and cooked 
strawberries, raw apples and apple sauce. 
These comparisons suggest to us the sus- 
picion that some decided change, or loss, 
must be occasioned by the cooking 
process. 

We are ready now, having in mi(id the 
principles set forth in this and the pre- 
ceding article, intelligently to choose bal- 
anced meals. An explanation of just 
how this is done will be given in the next 
article, along with sample meals. 




♦♦■" 



FOOD COMBINATIONS 

By GEORGE E. CORNFORTH 

Chef at the New England Sanitarium, Melrose, Mass. 

From "Life and Health," the National Health Magazine, Washington, D. C, Feb., 'i6 



u 



4.4... 



n nitmniiiim ^» niriiirmiiri — 1 iiiiiiiniiin ^m niiiiiniiiiiii ^m niiilliiii 111 1 — 1 iimi iimhi i m^ i i 




E consider the combination of 
foods for two purposes. One, 
that we may eat at the same meal 
only foods that digest well to- 
gether; the other, that we combine foods 
in such a way as to supply all the needed 
elements in about the right proportion. 
Foods that digest well together are : — 

Grains and fruits 
Grains and vegetables 
Grains and nuts 
Grains and milk 
Grains and eggs 
Grains, fruits, and nuts 
Grains, vegetables, and nuts 

Foods that do not digest well together 
are: — 

Fruits and coarse vegetables 
Milk and sugar in large quantities 
Mush and milk and sugar 
Foods cooked in fat 

A fair combination is milk and fruit. 

To^jmbine foods in such a way as to 
supply all the needed elements, we should 
choose something from each of the differ- 
ent classes of food elements ; that is, some 
foods supplying building material, some 
supplying fat, some supplying starch and 
sugar, and be sure that there is included 
among these, foods that supply cellulose 
and mineral elements. 

I will write down some poor meals 
and tell why they are poor meals, that 
we may understand the more forcibly, by 
contrast, what a good meal is. 

Unbalanced or One-Sided Meals 

NO. I 

Lentil Soup 
Baked Beans 
Cottage Cheese 
Custard Pie 
Milk 

10 






Such a meal would contain too much 
building food. It is too concentrated. 
It contains too little bulk and cellulose. 

NO. 2 

Boiled Rice 

Potatoes 

Macaroni 

White Bread 

Butter 

Cake 

Such a meal would be made up too 

largely of warmth-and-work food. It 

lacks building food and bulk and mineral 

elements. 

NO. 3 

Vegetable Soup 

Carrots 

String Beans 

Lettuce 

Tomatoes 

Strawberries and Cream 

Such a meal would contain too little 
building food and too little warmth-and- 
work food. It is too bulky. It is lack- 
ing in nourishment. It also has the bad 
combination of fruits and vegetables. 

Now, to make balanced meals, it would 
only be necessary to choose something 
from each of these poor meals. And it 
is not necessary to choose a large vari- 
ety in order to supply all the needs of 
the body. For instance, a breakfast con- 
sisting only of oatmeal, milk, and prunes 
would contain everything a balanced 
meal needs to contain. The oatmeal and 
milk would supply the building food. 
The oatmeal would supply the starch. 
The milk would supply the fat. The 
milk and prunes would supply the sugar. 
The starch, sugar, and fat are the 
the warmth-and-work foods. The prunes 
ivould supply the bulk. The milk and 



FOOD COMBINATIONS 



11 



oatmeal would supply the calcium and 
phosphorus. The prunes would supply 
the iron and potassium. The oatmeal 
would supply the magnesium. 

That the reader may see what exactly 
balanced meals are like, I will write out 
meals for one day for a medium-sized 
person at sedentary work. Such a per- 
son would require about 2,100 calories 
of food. Ten per cent of this, or 210 
calories, should be building food ; twenty- 
five to thirty per cent, or 525 to 630 
calories, should be fat, and the rest car- 
bohydrate, or warmth-and-work food. 
We will let the dinner contain one half 
of this, the breakfast one third, and the 
supper the rest. Then, observing what 
an exactly balanced meal is like, a per- 
son can make other meals, imitating it, 
that will be sufficiently well-balanced for 
all practical purposes. 

Lest some of the readers should 
fail to understand the purpose of my 
giving these balanced meals in figures, I 
would state that I should not advise being 
so careful as to go to all the trouble of 
figuring out the calorific value of every 
meal eaten. I am only giving these meals 
in this way that the reader may see what 
exactly balanced meals are like, and how 
nearly, perhaps, they are like the meals 
he is in the habit of eating. 

Since one ounce of protein, starch, or 
sugar produces 116 calories, and one 
ounce of fat produces 264 calories, the 
calorific value of foods can be figured 
from a table of percentage composition 
of foods,^ by multiplying the protein and 
carbohydrate by 1.16, and the fat by 2.64. 
This will give the number of calories of 
protein, fat, and carbohydrate which one 
ounce of the food yields. By adding 
these together, we obtain the total num- 
ber of calories yielded by one ounce 
of the food. In previous lessons on 
foods we have given the food value of 
the food under discussion, in calories 
per ounce. 



1 Bulletin 28, U. S. Department of Agricul- 
ture. Sent for five cents coin if ordered 
from the Superintendent of Documents, 
Washington, D. C. 



Balanced Breakfast, Dinner, and Supper 
BREAKFAST 

PRO. FAT CAR. TOTL 

I ordinary serving of oat- 
meal, 4I ounces 14 5 57 76 

About h cup cream, 2I ounces 6 no 12 128 
I egg 26 53 79 

1 medium baked potato, 3 

ounces 10 i 86 97 

2 slices Graham bread, 2 

ounces 20 10 122 152 

2 apples, 8 ounces 4 10 132 146 

80 189 409 678 
DINNER 

PRO. FAT CAR. TOT'l 

I good-sized serving baked 
beans, 8 ounces 50 41 137 228 

1 large baked potato, 4 

ounces 13 2 113 128 

4 slices bread, 4 ounces 40 20 244 304 

Butter, ^ ounce i 113 114 

Fresh tomato, 5 ounces 5 55 25 35 

Apple pie, 3J ounces 13 81 156 250 

122 262 67s T059 
SUPPER 

PRO. FAT CAR. TOT'l 

2 slices Graham bread, 

2 ounces 20 10 122 152 

Butter I ounce -. 0.5 56.5 57 

I glass grape juice, 6J 

ounces 154 154 

20.5 66.5 276 363 

TOTAL 

PRO. FAT CAR. TOT'l 

Breakfast 80 189 409 678 

Dinner 122 262 675 1059 

Supper 20.5 66.5 27^ 363 

222.5 517-5 1360 2100 

It will be noticed that the breakfast has 
more protein than is necessary, — that is, 
more than ten per cent, — even though 
only one egg is used in the meal. And it 
has more than enough fat, more than 
twenty-five per cent, though no butter is 
included. The dinner also has a little 
larger proportion of protein than is 
needed, though it includes no meat, milk, 
or eggs. Because breakfast and dinner 
contain so much protein, it is necessary 
that supper consist of foods low in pro- 
tein, that the total may not be much too 
high in protein. With such a supper, the 
total adds up with a slight excess of pro- 
tein. The cellulose is supplied in these 
meals by the fruits, vegetables, oatmeal, 



12 



FOOD COMBINATIONS 



and Graham bread, and all the foods sup- 
ply mineral elements. If desired, the 
butter could be replaced by an equal 
weight of olive oil or nuts, or by three 
and one-half times the weight of the but- 
ter in ripe olives. 

We will give another set of breakfast, 
dinner, and supper menus, equally well 
balanced, but will omit the figures. 

BREAKFAST 

1 fresh peach, 4 ounces 

Corn flakes, I ounce (i dish) 
Cream, 2i ounces 

2 whole-wheat puffs, 3i ounces 
I glass milk, 6\ ounces 

I dish apple sauce, 3^ ounces 

DINNER 

Bean soup, 4! ounces 

Pine nuts, i ounce 

Mashed sweet potatoes, 3i ounces 

Spinach, 3 ounces 

Stewed corn, 2I ounces 

Bread, 2 ounces 

Date pudding, 2i ounces 

SUPPER 

Stewed figs, 2 ounces 

I pear, 4 ounces 

I glass apple juice, 6 ounces 

This breakfast needs no butter, on ac- 
count of the cream and milk it includes, 
and the dinner needs no butter, on ac- 
count of the pine nuts. And the break- 
fast and dinner include enough protein 
and fat for the whole day, so that in 
order_to avoid having the total for the 
day include too much fat and protein, I 
have made up the supper entirely of 
fruit. 

That the reader may see what a bal- 
anced meal of fruits, grains, and nuts is 
like, I would write down the following 
dinner, which includes 1,050 calories, of 
which 114 are protein and 251 fat: — 

6 slices bread, 6 ounces 
About 5 walnut meats, I ounce 
About I teaspoon pine nuts, i ounce 

A little less than one-half package of raisins, 
6 ounces 

A balanced meal of fruits and nuts 
alone consists of — 

1% ounces pine nuts 

7 ounces raisins 

This meal contains 1,050 calories, of 
which 102, or about ten per cent, are 



protein, and 315, or exactly thirty per 
cent, are fat. 

Another approximately well-balanced 
meal would be — 

Split pea soup 

Macaroni and cottage cheese 

Mashed potatoes 

Tomatoes 

Bread and butter 

Pineapple tapioca 

It is designed to follow these lessons 
that have given fundamental facts about 
foods — the first thing taught in a series 
of lessons in cooking — by a series of 
lessons such as would be given in a cook- 
ing school, so that, by following the in- 
structions and directions given, one may 
have a cooking school at home. These 
will be lessons, however, not merely in 
cooking, but in the healthful preparation 
of food, — lessons in the preparation of 
food so that it will be ivholesome as well 
as appetizing. It is coming to be recog- 
nized more and more that there is a very 
close relation between diet and health, 
diet and efficiency, and diet and morals. 
It has been said, " The soul that would 
soar has often been fettered by a pork- 
and-pancake-fed body." It has also been 
well said, " The woman who thoughtfully 
selects proper food and drink for hus- 
band, father, brother, or little ones, ex- 
erts a far-reaching influence toward clean 
thinking and successful achievement." 

And because these will be lessons in 
healthful cookery, there will be no use 
made in them of certain substances 
sometimes called " food adjuncts," that 
are usually spoken of in connection with 
the food elements. I mean spices and 
condiments. These are not foods. 
They are not nutritious, they do the body 
no good, but do their little part, along 
with many other things, in bringing about 
old age and the early breaking down 
of the vital organs. A Paris physician 
has shown that the acid of vinegar is 
twice as active as alcohol in producing 
degeneration of the arteries ; and pepper, 
six times. 

People who eat an abundance of fruit 
generally find that they do not crave con- 



FOOD COMBINATIONS 



13 



diments and spices. These seem to har- 
monize better with a flesh diet. And, 
really, it does seem that something of 
that kind would be required to cover up 
or disguise the taste of dead flesh, or 
oysters, lobsters, crabs, and other such 
things. 

Some little time ago I attended a class 
for the general public at a cooking school, 
at which a meal was prepared, designed 
to teach those present how to prepare 
what is considered by the best people at 
the present time to be a good meal. Black 
pepper and red pepper were used freely 
in the hearty foods, of which there were 
three different kinds. And such mix- 
tures ! The salad contained one kind of 
liquor, and the dessert two kinds. After 
the sample dinner was prepared, the foods 
were passed around to be sampled, and 
there was not a single thing in the whole 
meal that I would put into my mouth. 
I could not help thinking that the very 
first place a person would want to get to, 
after eating such a meal, would be a liq- 
uor saloon. I am sure that many moth- 



ers are, by the food they are preparing, 
creating in their children an appetite for 
liquor and tobacco that will lead them 
into drunkards' graves. I once heard a 
minister say that he contracted the to- 
bacco habit when he was seven years old, 
and that his first chew of tobacco was 
the sweetest morsel he ever tasted. He 
attributed his early tobacco appetite to 
the fact that his mother was a good cook, 
as cooks are usually judged, and had on 
the table everything that was supposed to 
make food taste good. Of course, that 
man had a tremendous struggle, in later' 
life, to get rid of the tobacco habit, and 
he attributed his emancipation from 
slavery to the tobacco habit to the grace 
of God alone. 

I believe that food may be prepared 
in such a way that it will be an aid to us 
in becoming fit subjects of the kingdom 
of heaven, rather than lead us into the 
snares of Satan. And the preparation of 
food with the health of body, mind, and 
soul in view, is what we purpose to teach 
in the lessons that will follow. 




n 



Cooking Processes 

By GEORGE E. CORNFORTH 

Chef at the New England Sanitarium. Melrose, Mass. 
From " Life and Health," the National Health Magazine, Washington, D. C, March, 'i6 



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li 




OOKING is both a science and 
an art. As a science we have 
said it is to prepare food for 
digestion, — to make such 
changes in it that it will be in a proper 
condition to be acted upon by the diges- 
tive organs. It breaks up its organic 
structure, as in the softening produced in 
a potato or an apple in baking it, in ce- 
reals and legumes in boiling them, or in 
vegetables in boiling or steaming them. 
It produces chemical changes, such as 
the change of starch from insoluble to 
soluble in boiling and to dextrin by 
browning. It destroys living organisms, 
or germs; they may be disease germs or 
the organisms that cause the spoiling of 
food, as in the sterilizing of milk and 
in cooking fruits and vegetables in the 
process of canning. 

Of cooking as an art it has been said, 
■' The fine art of cookery consists of de- 
veloping the full natural flavor of the 
foods themselves and in combining them 
in pleasing ways." Under this phase of 
cooking we notice that cooking changes 
the appearance of food. A raw potato 
does not look very appetizing, but the 
sight of a hot baked potato may " make 
the mouth water." Cooking develops 
food flavors. The flavor of raw beans 
does not appeal to us, but one enjoys 
sitting down to a dish of well-baked 
beans when he is very hungry. Cooking 
also produces temperature changes. We 
can serve soup hot, or a dessert cold, or 
even frozen. 

The different methods of applying heat 
to food are the following : — 

Boiling. — Cooking food in actively 
boiline water. Water is said to boil when 



bubbles of steam are rising through the 
water and breaking at the surface, caus- 
ing steam to be given ofif rapidly. Water 
boils at 212° F.^ The loss of heat from 
the surface of the water in boiling is 
rapid enough to prevent the temperature 
of the water from going above 212° F. 
No matter how hot the fire, the tem- 
perature of boiling water in an open, or 
simply covered, kettle cannot be made 
hotter. The temperature of water can 
be made hotter than 212° F. by confining 
it under pressure while heat is applied, 
as is done in a pressure canning outfit. 
For this reason it is a waste of fuel to 
build a hotter fire for the purpose of 
hastening the cooking process after boil- 
ing has once begun. 

Simmering. — Slow, steady boiling. 

Steiving. — Long, steady cooking in a 
small quantity of liquid at a temperature 
a few degrees below the boiling point, 
160° to 180° F. Cooking in this manner 
can be conveniently accomplished in a 
double boiler. 

Baking. — Cooking in an oven, in 
heated air, by radiation. Only foods con- 
taining a considerable degree of moisture 
are adapted to this method. Slow oven, 
270° to 350° F. ; moderate oven, 350° 



1 At ordinary sea-level pressure. The higher 
the altitude, the lower the boiling point. In- 
creased pressure, as when the vessel is tightly 
closed, raises the boiling point, notwithstanding 
the paradoxical fact that the kettle boils sooner 
if the cover is on. The reason it boils sooner 
is that the increased pressure prevents evap- 
oration and consequent loss of heat, and thus 
the temperature is raised the more rapidly to a 
point a little higher than 2i2°F. The addition 
of salt to water also raises the boiling point.— 

F.D. 



14 



COOKING PROCESSES 



15 



to 400° F. ; quick oven, 400° to 480° F. 

Broiling. — Cooking a small piece of an 
article of food before or over glowing 
coals or under gas, by radiant heat. 

Roasting. — Cooking a large piece of 
food material before glowing coals. 
This used to be done when the cooking 
was done by open fireplaces. This 
method has now been largely super- 
seded by baking in the oven. 

Steaming. — Cooking by steam in a 
closed vessel with a perforated bottom 
over boiling water. Temperature, 212° 
F. Cooking in a double boiler may be 
called dry steaming, the temperature be- 
ing from 192° to 200° F. 

Frying. — Cooking in deep fat at a 
temperature of from 360° to 400° F., a 
method not to be recommended from the 
standpoint of wholesomeness. As a rule, 
fat is rendered less wholesome by cook- 
ing. 

Sauteing (pronounced so-tdy-ing), 
often called frying. — Cooking in a small 
quantity of fat in a shallow pan. This 
is worse, from a health standpoint, than 
frying in deep hot fat, because it permits 
more fat to soak into the food. 

Pan-Broiling. — Cooking on a hot grid- 
dle that has been oiled only enough to 
prevent the food from sticking to it. 

When it is desired to extract the nu- 
tritive constituents and flavoring matter 
out of food, as in making broth, put the 
food to cook in cold water. When it is 
desired to retain the nutritive matter and 
flavor in the food, put the food to cook 
in boiling water. 

Make the following experiments to de- 
termine the effect of hot water and of 
cold water on the different food ele- 
ments : — 

Into a tin cup, or a small agateware 
or aluminum vessel that holds about one- 
half pint, put one- fourth cup cold water. 
Then stir into the water one-fourth tea- 
spoon cornstarch. Allow it to stand a 
few moments. Notice that the starch 
does not dissolve in the water, but grad- 
ually settles to the bottom. Now stir up 
the starch again, set the cup on the stove, 
and lieat it very s^raduallv, stirring con- 



tinuously. Notice that when the tem- 
perature of the water approaches the 
boiling point, the mixture gradually 
thickens and becomes clear. This is be- 
cause hot water bursts the starch gran- 
ules, they dissolve, take up water, and 
swell, forming a pasty mixture. 

Place a thin slice of stale bread in a 
moderately heated oven, and allow it to 
remain, watching it, till thoroughly dry 
throughout and lightly browned. When, 
cool, taste it. Notice that it tastes dif- 
ferent from untoasted bread. Bread 
contains a large proportion of starch. 
Heating it till it turns light brown par- 
tially changes the starch to dextrin, a 
form of carbohydrate intermediate be- 
tween starch and sugar. Starch foods 
prepared in this way may be said to be 
partially predigested. 

Wash the cup and again put into it 
one-fourth cup cold water. Stir into the 
water one tablespoon sugar. Notice 
that the sugar dissolves slowly. Heat 
this mixture, and notice that the sugar 
dissolves rapidly in hot water. No other 
change in the sugar can be detected by 
the eye by simply boiling. But a very 
small quantity of the sugar is changed to 
what is called invert sugar, a non-crystal- 
lizing sugar. If boiled with an acid, the 
sugar gradually becomes entirely changed 
to non-crystallizing sugar. If a large 
quantity of sugar and water is used, suf- 
ficient so that it can be tested by a ther- 
mometer as it boils, it will be noticed 
that as the liquid evaporates the tem- 
perature of the boiling mass becomes 
higher, and when it reaches a temper- 
ature a little above 300° F. it begins to 
turn brown, or caramelize. Candy mak- 
ers take advantage of this fact, because 
the degree of density of the sirup is 
indicated by the temperature. 

When sugar and water are boiled to- 
gether till the temperature is 238° F., 
the sirup has reached what is called the 
" soft-ball " stage, because when a little 
of it is dropped into ice water it forms a 
soft ball ; or if a fork is dipped into the 
sirup and lifted out, the sirup forms a 
" thread " as it drips from the fork. 



16 



COOKING PROCESSES 



This is the stage to which sirup should be 
boiled in making frosting and fudge. 

At 254° F. the sirup is said to have 
reached the " hard-ball " stage, because 
when a little of the sirup is dropped into 
ice water it forms a hard ball. This is 
the stage to which sugar is boiled in 
making caramels. 

At 260° to 275° F. it has reached the 
" crack " stage, because at this stage 
it becomes snappy and brittle when 
dropped into ice water. This is the stage 
to which sugar is boiled in making 
taffies. 

At 290° F. it has reached the " hard 
crack " stage, at which it becomes very 
hard and brittle when dropped into ice 
water. This is the stage to which sugar 
is boiled in making peanut candy. 

When boiled above 300° F., the sirup 
gradually changes color from light yel- 
low to brown, then red, and if the cook- 
ing continues it turns black and smokes. 
For use in coloring and flavoring, water 
is added to the cooking mass to dissolve 
it when it reaches the right shade. Car- 
amelized sugar of a light-brown color, so 
dissolved, is used in flavoring custards, 
ice creams, and other desserts. That of 
a dark-red color is used for coloring 
gravies and soups. 

Into the same cup used in the previous 
experiment put one-fourth cup cold 
water, and stir into it one teaspoon veg- 



etable cooking oil. Notice that the oil 
neither dissolves nor mixes with the 
water, but floats on top. Now set the 
cup on the stove, and heat till the water 
boils. Notice that the boiling produces 
no change in the fat. It does not dissolve 
nor mix with the water. Fat is not 
changed at the temperature of boiling 
water, but at higher temperatures the fat 
is decomposed, or split up, into fatty acid 
and glycerin. Different fats decompose 
at different temperatures. Butter begins 
to decompose at about 256° F., and lard 
at 360° F., beef suet at 440° F., cottolene 
at 450° F., refined cotton-seed oil and 
olive oil at 600° F. Fatty acid is irri- 
tating to the system. At 500° F. and 
above, the glycerin is changed into acro- 
lein. This is the substance that gives the 
smarting sensation to the eyes, nose, and 
throat when fats are overheated. It is 
very irritating to the mucous membrance. 
It is the substance that is produced in 
the burning of cigarette paper, from the 
glycerin in the paper; and in the smok- 
ing of cigarettes more harmful results 
are attributed to the acrolein than to the 
nicotine in the tobacco. It will be noticed 
that butter would be the worst fat to use 
in frying, because it decomposes at the 
lowest temperature of all fats. 

The experiments with the food ele- 
ments may be made with test-tubes and 
an alcohol lamp if these are at hand. 




LIBRARY OF CONGRES 




